The invention relates to a method for aspirating secreted fluids from a wound by means of a drain, which is connected to a container by a tube, in which container a negative pressure prevails, and to an apparatus for performing the method.
In the known methods of this type, the aspiration of the secreted fluids begins at maximum negative pressure, i.e., with maximum suction effect. The negative pressure, and therefore also the suction effect, decrease in accordance with the quantity of aspirated fluid. This decrease results from the fact that the negative pressure prevailing in the container drops as the secreted fluid aspirated into the container increases. In this known method it is not only problematical that the beginning suction effect may under certain circumstances be too high, but also and primarily that there is no possibility to adapt the suction effect to given requirements or to hold the suction effect almost constant over an extended period of time. Furthermore, in the known methods there is a danger of contamination at least whenever a change of containers is necessary, since the connection between the container and the tube connected to the drain must be opened for a change of containers.